Grand Traverse County, MI

Schoolhouse History

The Fife Lake-Union District No. 1 Schoolhouse, also known as the Cedar Creek School of the Union Township Hall, is a school building located at 5020 Fife Lake Road near Fife Lake, Michigan.

This structure was built in 1882 by local carpenter John Dewey. It was used as a school until the early 1950s. In 1955, Union Township purchased the schoolhouse and converted it into a township hall.

The site was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1983 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

The Fife Lake Schoolhouse is a one-story Late Victorian balloon-frame rectangular structure with a gable roof and clapboard siding. The exterior is generally plain, but the appearance is enhanced by a distinctive triple-bay entry porch with a barrel-vault-top center, and by an open well-house-like belfry. Both the porch and the belfry have stickwork brackets, and the belfry has a gable roof and a central finial. Two entrances lead from the porch into coat rooms, which open onto the main schoolroom. The schoolroom has vertical-board interior paneling and a pressed metal ceiling.